Monday, December 12, 2011

UWA GRAND FINALE CHAMPS: MISPRINT & TUTSY WALK AWAY WITH IT ALL

Tutsy Navarathna @ Misprint Thursday's Digital Glove

More than a year in the making, Misprint Thursday's "Digital Glove' soared above an amazing array of 858 artworks sent in across the year to the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge to clinch the title of Grand Champion, and the L$100,000 prize in a nail biting climax where the 35 strong judging panel could only seperate this work from Blue Tsuki's "In Dreams" (seen in this Sophia Yates machinima) by a single point. Oberon Onmura's 'The Chasm' was similarly a one point winner for 3rd place over Claudia222 Jewell's 'Strange Plant... Uglyness & Beauty'. As to MachinimUWA IV: Art of the Artists, Tutsy Navarathna, a Frenchman based in Pondicherry, India, created history by becoming the first person to defend his crown at the UWA Machinima Challenges. His 'Welcome to the Other Side', with its nod to Marshall McLuhan proving too strong for Friday Siamendes gut busting 'Artwashers'. 'Shattered' by Ginger Alsop, pipped paleIllusion's 'You Can't Touch Heaven' in the juried non-scripted category. With the People Choice Awards, Gleman Jun's 'Matter of Ideas' took top spot with a 2 point gap over the joint 2nd prize winners, Blue Tsuki's work & Claudia Jewell's 'Venustrap'.

It's been an extraordinary period of creative energy and innovation over
the past two years with an amazingly diverse group of works constantly on
show each month. The challenge of selecting winners has become
progressively harder as the standard of the entries rose consistently.
The level of technical sophistication and conceptual rigour in the grand
final was a testament to all those artists who have made this such an
exciting project."

Major sponsors Open This End provided 25 Awards of Excellence for MachinimUWA IV (full list below). Much thanks to Aino Baar and the Open This End team for being such great supporters of the art.

During the announcements, challenge curator FreeWee Ling offered the following Machinima by way of thanking the artists for their inspiration, as well as to make a surprise announcement on the future of art at UWA

FULL RESULTS FOLLOW AND THE TEXT OF THE WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT IS REPRODUCED BELOW IN ITS ENTIRETY

UWA 3D OPEN ART CHALLENGE (OVERALL)

1st Prize (L$100,000): DIGITAL GLOVE by Misprint Thursday - 70 points"I am so honored to have 2 spots in the top 10 of the year...I am amazed at the potential of the medium and look forward to seeing it progress. I am very thankful for the work that Jay Jay, FreeWee and the judges put into this-it is no small task. We have a world of people and possibilities here and it continues to move me. So, thank you." Misprint Thursday

2nd Prize (L$75,000): IN DREAMS by Blue Tsuki - 69 points"I give many thanks to all the people who voted for me in both the People's Choice and the main judging. There were so many spectacular and deserving works this year, it was an honor to share the same stage. I want especially to thank Jajay and FreeWee for all their hard work and comitment to the arts here in Second Life. I can not understate the positive effect the UWA has had. I believe that virtual art is a unique and valid new art form deserving of our attention. It is in its infancy and even in these few short years I have watched it grow to become more varied and sophisticated. I look forward to seeing it evolve, to see more wonderful work from all of you; to see work both reverent and irreverent, sacred and profane:). I also wanted to thank someone who can not be with us, Sabrinna Nightfire, for giving me so many opportunities to show and develop my work. Because of the generosity of people like Sabrinna and the UWA, we have an art scene in Second Life. So to all of you who support the arts in Second Life, a heartfelt thank you." Blue Tsuki

3rd Prize (L$40,000): THE CHASM by Oberon Onmura - 44 points

"Artists live to show their work to people. When people respond, especially when the response is positive, all the hard work and headaches fade away and it seems, for that moment, that he or she has made a real - if maybe small - difference in the world. Winning this award at the culmination of the UWA 3D Art competitions is a great honor, and it gives me a real sense that artmaking here in SL actually touches people, affecting their virtual lives in a good way. And that makes me very happy! Thanks to JayJay, FreeWee, and everyone else at UWA for their tremendous efforts over the years. I hope all this good work continues and grows for the benefit of the entire SL community." Oberon Onmura

"It is hard to express the honour to be even mentioned to be in the end round in uwa grand finals .. this moment in january when i came here and was entering my strange plant . never i would have imagined the impact it has to me later .. thank you all so much for the great support you given me to go on and learn . Thank you for all the opportunitys created for people that like to experiment with more non comercial ways in sl > without events like UWA we maybe soon would become content creators and never see the freedom we can get by just work with passion in new mediums like 3d , and share it with others . a big thanks to all creation supporters in sl <3" Claudia222 Jewell

"I'm very happy to have been awarded once again, this is a good new to end the year ! Thank you all ! I take this opportunity to thank all those who appropriated the doll and took care of her with poetry, machinimas and other awesome builds. That's pretty cool to see our build living in others imagination, and it's probably the best reward." Josiane Sorciere

"I hope my art, creativity and imagination inspires others to do great things. The UWA Art Challenge has been one of the most mind changing events I have experienced in my lifetime, and I cannot thank UWA enough because through my participation over the past year and half they have opened a window into my soul and allowed me to see with new eyes. No words can express the gratitude of what this has done for me. It is a reflection of the power and the beauty of art." Ginger Alsop

3rd Prize (L$5,000): 99% by Harter Fall - 82 points"Recieving this award is such an amazing honor. I never thought i would win this prize, especially with such an political installation. I think even the rich ones of us understand they don´t belong to the 1%. I´d like to thank FreeWee Ling and Jayjay Zifanwe for all they did for art and artists in SL, Ally Aeon for her support and Aeonia Arts, Pennelope Parx , Claudia222 Jewell and Nik Gandt for beeing such great friends, the judges for the votes and all the curators, supporters, friends and my family for their help and support." Harter Fall

"The UWA Art Challenge 2011 comes to an end, but it's left its imprint grid wide for the artists of SL. Jayjay conceived of the challenge, and against all odds in an otherwise scattered SL, he managed to nurture an expansive and stimulating place for artists to congregate, share their work, discover each other, and further their visibility in SL. An impossible task, unless you happen to be Jayjay. I am grateful for this award. My thanks to Jayjay, FreeWee, and all those who made the UWA Art Challenge a reality." Haveit Neox

"Many thanks to the organisers. UWA competitions are now setting the benchmarks for the creation of Visual 3D and Audio-Visual media in Virtual Worlds. I am very proud to be part of this adventure! UWAMachinima IV is a great achievement in terms of the number of entrants and the high quality of the films being produced. In only three years or so, machinima filmmakers have emerged as an undisputed artistic force in Virtual Worlds...And this is just the beginning! Thank you, all." Tutsy Navarathna

"My special thanks to the artists involved and a very special to Maya Paris, also included on my work, so far viral acception from the public, and that for me it is all. Based entirely on the size of our perception, not only individualistic dimension, since the Qubit (The smallest unit of information in a computer designed to manipulate or store information through effects, predicted by the quantum physics) Represented by the "LittleBigPlanet" character dimentions, and the character of the individual and the Dimension of our real knowledge of the vastiness of the whole universe (it's like talking ironically about the tiniest of the tiniest thing, thinking about the hugeness), the common desire of Human beying, reach of the untouchable. Not wanting to get out of our sphere entirely, although I plan to put into (out of the box) to compose this poem. Through the art of the artists I've tried a notion to explain the ideas in fluid way. Like affirmation of the universe seen by the human mind in poetic tone "Draw from the graphite, Brilliant and dazzling" (to our knowledge about the chain of carbon-based life and our universe that designed graphite, bright and shiny). This work was assembled in it's a whole." spyVspy Aeon

"I am very proud to have been part of this excellent competition, and of course I want to thank Josiane Sorciere who has made a fabulous work with this ballerina. I also want to thank UWA team, whom I have followed nearly since the beginning for art competitions and machinma contests as well, and who has made a terrific work since all these years." Iono Allen

"I'm very happy and gratified that both my films got into the top ten; I want to thank everyone who encouraged me... and especially the artists who inspired these stories in me. And please thank the judges for me as well." Hypatia Pickens

"Thank you for the special award for Breaking the Barriers. It's particularly meaningful because that's what we all do when we make 3d interactive and immersive art, or create films with machinima that make it possible for people who haven't seen the art in the virtual world to experience it, or when we do what is not possible in real life. My film suggests that virtual art can be seen as a step towards what augmented reality might bring to art experience in the future, but as usual, I explore that idea playfully, with a wink at questions about how imagined, created, and actual realities intertwine, and what it might mean to break the barriers between them. It is a privilege to explore those connections with the artist communities of Second Life, especially as we've been brought together by the UWA. Thanks again to the UWA, JayJay, FreeWee, and all the artists and filmmakers involved." Dr Lori Landay

" I'm very happy and gratified that both my films got into the top ten; I want to thank everyone who encouraged me... and especially the artists who inspired these stories in me. And please thank the judges for me as well." Hypatia Pickens

OPEN THIS END AWARD OF EXCELLENCE IN FILM ( in Alphabetical order) (@L$2,400)

For anyone interested in seeing the full text of the announcement by Jayjay Zifanwe, delivered from 6am slt on SUNDAY, 11th December, it is reproduced as follows:
Greetings everyone, and welcome to the University of Western Australia, or UWA as she is known and also welcome to the OCTOBER round announcement of winners and party for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. As is tradition at UWA, I would like to acknowledge that the University is situated on Nyoongar land and that the Nyoongar people remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land and continue to uphold their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge.

Today brings to an end the 2 years of monthly art challenges at UWA, with 841 artworks being submitted in year 1 across the Art & Architectural challenges and 858 submitted in year 2, also known as the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. Today also sees the conclusion of MachinimUWA IV: Art of the Artists and with this, we had 83 machinima submissions where the theme was to film the artworks submitted to the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge.

Its been an absolute pleasure for me to work with all of you over the year, and especially to those who went above an beyond the call of duty to make all of this a success. Thank you FreeWee Ling, curator of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, thank you LaPiscean Liberty co-host for MachinimUWA IV. Also much thanks to those who have provided support and sponsorship which sees the overall prize pool standing at close to L$2,000,000 across bopth art and machinima. As such I would like to do is to thank and acknowledge the major art houses and groups in Second Life that are part of this Grand Collaboration. These include The University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) led by Dr Carmen Fies, Open This End, led by Aino Baar, SL Art led by Gleman Jun & Sunset Quinnel, CARP led by Josina Burgess & Velazquez Bonetto, Pirats Art Network led by Merlina Rokocoko & Newbab Zsigmond, Odyssey led by Fau Ferdinand, Jo Ellsmere & Lizsolo Mathilde, BOSL led by Frolic Mills and Editorial Clarity, Nordan Art led by Flora Nordanskiold, S&S Gallery of Fine Art led by TheDove Rhode, The Workhouse Gallery led by Astarte Haalan, Art Place d-oo-b led by Eifachfilm Vacirca, The Tornado Gallery led by Taralyn Gravois and project Z led by Zachh Cale. Also thanks to our Grand Finale sponsors, MidnightRain Glas, Philip Vought, Patch Thibaud, Open This End, TheDove Rhode and UWA. Of vital importancs is Professor Ted Snell, Chair of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts abd the Director oif UWA's Cultural Precinct and Profesor Alan Robson, UWA's illustrious Vice-Chancellor who is retiring on the 31st of this month, without whose support, none of us will be standing here today.

We will start today with the winners announcements for MachinimUWA IV, FreeWee will then take centre stage for the first time, and we will end with the announcements for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. However. before I do or say anything else, we have a real cracker to kick off the Grand Finale, and I would like to introduce to you to Laurina Hawks and The Phoenix Embers Showcats, with a special performance that reportedly will knock everyones virtual socks off! I am told that for this performance, it is best to watch with the 'night' settings. Over to you Laurina!

(THE PHOENIX EMBERS SHOWCATS PERFORM)

I want to thank all of you for being here today, bringing the world together. The UWA Art, Architectural & Machinima Challenges, the Teaching & Reearch have seen people from all corners of the globe involved with students, artists, builders and machinimatographers hailing from Greece, India, Colombia, Poland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, Taiwan, Hungary, Latvia, Russia, Venezuela, Belgium, Mexico, Wales, Canada, the USA, the UK, Uruguay, Scotland,England, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Cuba, Serbia, Tunisia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and parts unknown. More than 40 nations with 6 of the 7 continents of the world represented.

Today brings to an end the amazing journey of MachinimUWA IV, the companion of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. It will see the end of the rein of Eric Boccara as reigning champion, and as for Tutsy Navarathna? who knows.... we could well have a new champion taking the mantle from the 83 amazing entries that have come in from all the nations of the earth.

LaPiecean Liberty, who is one of the true unsung heroes of second life, with AviewTV has been instrumental in putting everything together. Also Kinte Trill, Petlove Petshop & Emo Wei who organized an amazing MachinimUWA IV Review across the 8th - 10th of December and also to Taralyn Gravois for all her work in the lead up to the ceremony, as I am sure she has been speaking to many of you. Sponsored by Open This End, AviewTV & UWA, the MachinimUWA IV Prize pool is sitting at L$350,000, with a 1st prize of L$60,000.

I want to thank our judging panel for their sterling work in looking through the incredible array of 83 entries. It was unbelievably hard to seperate things, and the panel was put to a great deal of work and this was an amazing 18 member panel made up of people from all around the world involved in a diverse array of related areas.

Before announcing the winners, I just want to remind everyone, that just because the monthly art challenges are ending, this DOES NOT MEAN its the end of art at UWA. Its merely a format change. In 2012, there will be a single major round art challenge with a prize pool of L$500,000. It will have a theme and the theme will be very loosely related the UWA's Centenary. At the same time, we will also have MachinimUWA V, which will also have a theme loosely related to UWA's Centenary and which will also carry a prize pool of at least L$500,000, likely taking place betwen March - June 2012.

Now for the Audience Participation Prize, which has a prize pool of L$20,000, in which anyone in the world who was not on the official judging panel was invited to provide what they thought the top 10 would be as decided by the actual panel. This was no mean task, as the viewer had to watch all 83 machinima and then rank them, and if you ask them they will be able to tell you the enormity of the task. Aside from the Lindens, the winners will receive in the mail a special RL pack that includes a copy of the 2012 UWA Friends of the Grounds calendar that includes 2 photographs taken in Second Life. One by Silene Christen of Spain's Balears Islands, the other a lucky shot by a rank amateur who may be among us today. The first prize winner will also be invited to be on the official judging panel for MachinimUWA V.

There was a maximum of 100 points that any viewer could get, and this is if they were spot on with every single selection and matched the exact order as well. For example, if you listed a machinima in 1st place, and it actually won first, you would receive 10 points (there is a difference of ZERO between your selection and the actual). If you listed a Machinima as 1st, and it got 10th, then you would get one point (difference of 9 between your selection and actual). Now the average score achieved by entrants for this was 27 out of 100, with 66 being the top score, and 2 entries who had zero, with not a single one of their top 10 matching the actual top 10.

Anyway, we had a great response, and finishing in 3rd on 54 points, in the Audience Participation Prize with 7 of their top 10 selections being in the actual top 10 and winning L$4,000 and a special RL pack is... someone who incredibly also won 3rd Prize in the Audience participation event in MachinimUWA III ...

LALIE SORBET !

The 2nd Prize Winner for the Audience Participation Prize, had 58 points, very close between 2nd and 3rd. 8 of this persons selections turned out to be in the actual top 10. And so, the winner of the L$6,000 2nd Prize for the Audience Participation Event is:

PIXIE RAIN

And now the winner of the Audience Participation Prize, on 66 points, and also picking out 8 of the top 10. And so the winner of the L$10,000 First prize for the Audience Participation Event is:

LALA LARIX of Gdansk, Poland!

Congrats Lala. Well, Lala will now be invited onto the official panel for MachinimUWA V, though I am secretly wishing she declines and submits another one of her wonderful machinima for the event instead. Anyway, that will be left to Lala to decide.

Now on to the winners of the competition proper. When the winners are announced, it will be done in 1 minute intervals. We do invite everyone to comment and congratulate the winners and for the winners to respond before the next announcement (and if they could please use the SHOUT function). Hopefully we can get pictures of you attending the event. Anyone taking good pictures of today, please email them to me at jayjayaustralia@hotmail.com

Now to explain how the judging was done. Each judge listed their top 10 in order of preference. 8 points was allocated for a 1st place vote, 6 points for a 2nd place vote, 4 points for 3rd, 3 for 4th, 2 for 5th, and 1 point each for 6th – 10th. Straight aggregates were then used for the top 5, with the special awards going to the other works that finished in the top 10. The judging was extremely diverse with 52 of the 83 works receiving at least 1 top 10 vote. The top 2 machinima however featured in 16 of the 18 judges top 10's respectively. The Special Award winners all finished with between 12 and 26 points.

AND SO.... the MachinimUWA IV Special Award for EMOTION (L$19,000) goes to:

YEAH by Hypatia Pickens of the Unites States

The touching story about how art is the only way a man who has been deprived of speech or understanding it can express the vivid images he has in his head

Next, the MachinimUWA IV Special Award for BREAKING THE BARRIERS (L$19,000) goes to:

TRANSFORMATIONL VIRTUAL ART ON THE BRINK by L1aura Loire / Dr Lori Landay, from the College of Music, Berkelee, USA

Here Dr Landay gets transported into the virtual world and plots her escape!

And now, the MachinimUWA IV Special Award for THE SOUL (L$19,000) goes to:

A PLACID OCEAN OF UNCERTAIN LIBERTIES by Cecil Hirvi, Citizen of the Universe.

A mesmerising work immersing us in the virtual world, and I believe his first work since we saw the conclusion to the Saga of Cecil.

And to cap it off, the MachinimUWA IV Special Award for THE HUMAN HEART (L$19,000) goes to:

LOVE PRAYER by Hypatia Pickens

This work where "Tam Lin" meets Finnish love song produces an amazing double for Hypatia amongst the Special Awards!

Next for 5th Prize with L$20,000. I have nothing much to say about this work. I didn't really like it, but it got 5th anyway... and so, 5th Prize for MachinimUWA IV: Art of the Artists is:

NOBODY

Well there we have it, the first of the famous UWA ties. We have a tie for 4th place, on 35 points. One of these works featured in 12 of 18 judges lists, had THREE 1st place votes, ONE 3rd and ONE 4th place, while the other featured in 13 of the 18 lists, had one 1st place vote, TWO 2nd's, ONE 3rd and TWO 4ths... And so, L$22,500 for 4th Prize in MachinimUWA IV: Art of the Artists goes to:

QUBIT: COGNITIVE DISTORTION by spyVspy of Lisbon, Portugal

a longtime favourite for the overall title with more than 7,000 youtube views.

And, the L$22,500 for 4th Prize in MachinimUWA IV: Art of the Artists ALSO goes to:

VIRTUAL LOVE by Iono Allen, from the land of Amore, France

A heartbreaking film featuring "The Music box" (or "Three little turns and it goes away") by Josiane Sorciere.

The 3rd prize for MachinimUWA IV is L$30,000. Now across the 18 judges and 83 machinima, only 2 creations received THREE 1st Place votes. Iono's work and this one. The 3rd Prize winner finished with 42 points and featured in 12 of 18 top 10. This was a truly ground breaking piece, and many are in awe of the method to this work. And so, 3rd Prize (L$30,000) for MachinimUWA IV goes to:

ART OF THE ARTISTS by Fuschia Nightfire of Dorset, England

here 3d artworks are deconstructed and reconstructed in some of the most remarkable sequences seen in a machinima.

2nd Prize for MachinimUWA IV is L$40,000. This machinima featured in 16 of the 18 top 10 lists, had ONE 1st place vote and FOUR 2nd place votes, ONE 3rd and ONE 4th, finishing with 47 points., and so, 2nd Prize (L$40,000) for MachinimUWA IV goes to:

ARTWASHERS by FRIDAY SIAMENDES of California

a gut busting look behind the scenes of how virtual art scrubs up.

MachinimUWA II & MachinimUWA III both had Joint-1st Prizes..... well that sequence is broken. We have one winner of the L$60,000 1st Prize. By a margin. On 63 points, with ONE 1st place vote, FIVE 2nd place votes, THREE 3rd place votes and THREE 4th place votes, featuring in 16 of the 18 top 10 lists. And so, the winner of MachinimUWA IV (L$60,000) is:

WELCOME TO THE OTHER SIDE by Tutsy Navarathna, the brilliant Frenchman based in Pondicherry, India

The defending champion holds on to his crown! Unprecedented in the UWA Machinima Challenges! Congrats Tutsy.

We will play the winners machinima at the end of the announcement of winners for the 3D Artworks.

Before I move to the 3D Art, I would like to invite the curator of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, FreeWee Ling to say a few words:

(FREEWEE SPEAKS)

And now, we move to the Grand Finale of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. Before announcing the winners here, there are a few things I want to share.

First the grand finale & the machinima challenges have been reported in RL media last week, namely in the West Australian newspaper in Perth.
http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2011/12/uwa-grand-finale-reported-in-west.html

Students from the Universidad Rafel Belloso Chacin, Venezuela had been given a task by their lecturer Dr Doris Molero (Pionia Destiny, SL), as part of the English Language programme, to write a blog post about the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge Grand Finale Artworks. It is very pleasing to those running the challenge that this and other institutions around the world, such as York University have chosen to conduct aspects of their classes at the UWA Art Challenge galleries.
http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2011/12/venezuelas-universidad-rafel-belloso.html

One of the treasures of UWA, the Somerville Auditorium, with its Norfolk Bay Pines has recently been built by Sharni Azalee & launched. This is where the Perth International Arts Festival Films are shown in RL.
http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2011/11/launch-of-uwa-treasure-somerville.html

Also some events happening now and coming right after this. If you havent seen it already, do plan to visit Haveit Neox's LEA FULL SIM ART creation, Second Libations which has been critically acclaimed http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2011/11/lea-full-sim-art-series-haveit-neoxs.html, as well as LunaMetamorphia's UWA SKY SIM SERIES, "Endangered Species Zoo of Metamorphia" which kicks off at 6PM slt today http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2011/12/uwa-grand-finale-reported-in-west.html

First, there is the People's Choice category. Now for the People's Choice, all of SL was invited to vote. It was also announced that 3 Lucky voters will win for themselves L$5,000, L$3,000 & L$2,000 + Special RL UWA packages posted out as well. I didnt however explain how those 3 winners would be determined. How they are being selected is by how closely their top 10 choices matched with the overall grand finale winners.

As with the Machinima Audience event, there was a maximum of 100 points that any voter could get, and this is if they were spot on with every single selection and matched the exact order as well. For example, if you listed an artwork in 1st place, and it actually won first, you would receive 10 points (there is a difference of ZERO between your selection and the actual). If you listed an artwork as 1st, and it got 10th, then you would get one point (difference of 9 between your selection and actual). It was a lot harder than the Machinima to get 'high' marks on this one, and unlike the Machinima where the TOP 3 scored in the 50's and 60's, here the top score was 47, with everything else 39 and below. What this actually means ... and this is a great thing... is that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and a great range of artwork were loved by many.

Anyway, finishing in 3rd on 36 points, surprise, surprise... we have a TIE! So here they will both receive L$1,000 + an RL pack. They got 4 and 5 of their top 10's in the actual top 10's respectively, but their matching to the actual for those was very close. And as such 3rd Prize in the Audience participation event for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge is:

LOQUACIA LOON and NUBDIEST RESIDENT

The 2nd Prize Winner for this category, had 39 points, pretty close between 2nd and Joint-3rd. 5 of this persons selections turned out to be in the actual top 10. And so, the winner of the L$3,000 2nd Prize for the Audience participation event for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge is:

ARROW INGLEWOOD

And now the winner of the Audience Participation Prize, on 47 points, picking out 7 of the top 10. And so the winner of the L$5,000 First prize for the Audience participation event for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge is:

LILIA ARTIS

Moving now to the actual top 3 artworks selected for the People's Choice Awards.

Here again, all voters listed their top 10 in order of preference. 8 points was allocated for a 1st place vote, 6 points for a 2nd place vote, 4 points for 3rd, 3 for 4th, 2 for 5th, and 1 point each for 6th – 10th. Straight aggregates were then used for the top 3.

First the Non-Scripted category where there were 24 works of art in the Grand Finale. Between 5th and 10th the scores were very very close..... with the work in 10th spot on 54 points and the work in 5th on 61 points. You will notice I didnt mention a 4th place, as we do have a tie for 3rd place on 67 points. And so, sharing L$3,000 in 3rd Place for the People's Choice Vote for the Non-Scripted category of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge is:

SPRING BOX by Cherry Manga

AND also in 3rd Place for the People's Choice Vote for the Non-Scripted category of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge on 67 points is:

YOU CAN'T TOUCH HEAVEN by paleillusion

There is a big leap to the battle for top spot in the People's Choice vote for the Non-Scripted. In 2nd place on 92 points, taking home L$5,000 :

SHATTERED by Ginger Alsop

And the winner of the People's Choice Vote for the Non-Scripted on 112 points taking the prize of L$8,000 is:

SMALL PIECE OF HELL: The Suicide Forest Infested by Harpias by Rebeca Bashly

Now to the Overall Category for the People's choice. Here we had 59 artworks in the Grand Finale. The gap between 4th and 10 was a lot bigger here. with the scores ranging from 35 points for 10th to 59 points for 4th. Any one of the voters however could have impacted on the overall top 3...... as there was only a 2 point gap between the joint 2nd prize (yes... no 3rd) which was 62 points and 64 points respectively.

And so, in Joint 2nd for the People's Choice, for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge on 62 points is:

VENUSTRAP by Claudia222 jewell

and also in Joint 2nd for the People's Choice, for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge on 62 points is:

IN DREAMS by Blue Tsuki

And by a razor's edge on 64 points, the WINNER for the People's Choice for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge overall is:

THE MATTER OF IDEAS by Gleman Jun

And now we come to the crunch. The overall juried Grand Prizes for the UWA 3D Open Art Chgallenge. The results are extremely interesting, and again each judge listed their top 10 in order with 8 points for 1st, 6 points for 2nd, 4 points for 3rd, 3 points for 4th, 2 points for 5th and 1 point for 6th - 10th place votes. The winners are taken as a straight aggregate compiling the individual rankings of each member of the judging panel. No one individual had any greater influence than any other. Every single piece in the Non-Scripted had at featured in at least 3 of the 35 judges top 10's, and 57 of the 59 artworks in the overall featured in the top 10 list of at least one judge. However even the winners of the overall and non-scripted were NOT in the top 10 of at least 12 of the 35 judges. Its a bit hard to comprehend. The overall winners didnt feature in at least 12 of the 35 judges top 10 lists. So there was great individual variability acros the judges, however, when put together, I am staggered by how clearly the results come across.

First the Non-Scripted. The pieces finishing 6th - 10th each receive L$1,000.

In Joint 9th place (@ L$1,000) on 45 points:

MISS N by Suzanne Graves and
BIRDSONG by Cherry Manga

In 8th place(L$1,000) for the Non-Scripted on 51 points:
DAUGHTER OF THE WIND by Fae Varriale

In 7th place (L$1,000) for the Non-Scripted on 58 points:
SPRING BOX by Cherry Manga

In 6th place (L$1,000) for the Non-Scripted on 61 points:
SMALL PIECE OF HELL: The Suicide Forest Infested by Harpias by Rebeca Bashly

Was very close in fact between 4th, 5th and 6th, 1 point seperating each.

In 5th place (L$2,000) for the Non-Scripted on 62 points:
MARIONETTE by Haveit Neox

In 4th place (L$3,000) for the Non-Scripted on 63 points:
THE REVOLT OF THE MANNEQUINS by Silene Christen

There is a big jump to 3rd place on 82 points. This work received FOUR 1st place votes, ONE 2nd place vote and FOUR 3rd place votes. So 3rd place (L$5,000) for the Non-Scripted on 82 points is:

99% by Harter Fall

Big battle for top spot. Split by 3 points.

The work taking 2nd spot, had SIX 1st place votes, THREE 2nd place votes and FOUR 3rd place votes. And so 2nd place (L$10,000) for the Non-Scripted on 102 points is:

YOU CAN'T TOUCH HEAVEN by paleillusion

It just missed out on top spot which had 105 points. In 1st place for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge (L$15,000) for the Non-Scripted category, with FIVE 1st place votes, SEVEN 2nd place votes, and THREE 3rd place votes. The winner is:

SHATTERED by Ginger Alsop

Finally we come to the overall winners of the UWA 3D Open Art Challege. Very close and the judging showed a lot of variability as expected with 57 of the 59 artworks finishing in the top 10 of at least one of the judges.

Some amazing artworks are missing from the top 10. This is only because of the quality of the field, and bearing in mind that these are all award winning artworks from across the year.No single artwork had more than FIVE 1st place votes, and even the artwork finishing in 33rd place received a 1st place vote but appeared in only 3 of the 35 top 10 lists.

Even by UWA standards, we have quite a remarkable result at 10th place. We have an unbelievable 5 artworks tied for 10th at 28 points each, and so each receives a L$1,000 share of the L$5,000 on offer for 10th.

In Joint-10th place (@L$1,000), on 28 points for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge are:

HARMONIES IN C GREAT(+) by Artistide Despres
TROIS PETITS TOURS ET PUIS S'EN VA (Three little turns and it goes away) by Josiane Sorciere
THE DOCK SPIRIT by Scottius Polke
VENUSTRAP by Claudia222 Jewell and
SHATTERED by Ginger Alsop (the only non-scripted work to finish in the top 10 overall)

In 7th place(@L$5,000), on 34 points for the Overall UWA 3D Open Art Challenge is:
NOT EVERYTHING IS PLAIN BLACK & WHITE by Fuschia Nightfire

NOW for the last of the ties. We have no 6th place as there is a tie for 5th, and will receive L$7,500 each.

5th place(@L$7,500), on 39 points for the Overall UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, with TWO 1st place votes and THREE 2nd place votes and being listed on the top 10's of 9 of the 35 judges is:

PARANORMAL FROTTAGE by Misprint Thursday

Joint-5th place(@L$7,500), on 39 points for the Overall UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, with TWO 1st place votes, ONE 2nd and TWO 3rd place votes and being listed on the top 10's of 10 of the 35 judges is:

EXCERPTS FROM REALITIES by Glyph Graves

3rd and 4th are seperated again by a single point (so every single placing made by the judges has been important... whether they put a work in 5th place vs 6th place on their lists have had a bearing on the result.

4th place (L$30,000) on 43 points for the Overall UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, with THREE 1st place votes, ONE 2nd and TWO 3rd place votes, and being listed on the top 10's of 10 of the 35 judges is:

STRANGE PLANT...UGLYNESS & BEAUTY by Claudia222 Jewel

3rd place (L$40,000) on 44 points for the Overall UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, with TWO 1st place votes, TWO 2nd and TWO 3rd place votes and being listed on the top 10's of 13 of the 35 judges is (and boy will this artist be glad when its over) :

THE CHASM by Oberon Onmura

Those bots can finally go to bed!!!!

I can tell you now... that any differences by any of the judges in terms of where they placed the top 2 would have had a profound impact on the final result.

25 points seperated 3rd place from 2nd, but between #1 & #2, the gap was 1 point. The narrowest margin possible.

2nd Prize (L$75,000) on 69 points for the Overall UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, with FIVE 1st place votes, ONE 2nd place vote, TWO 3rd place votes, THREE 4th place votes and being listed on the top 10's of 17 of the 35 judges, is:

IN DREAMS by Blue Tsuki

amazing. 2nd place in the People's Choice and 2nd place Overall.

This brilliant artwork inspired Sophia Yates to create a machinima about it within 24 hours of it being set up at the UWA Gallery. Love this machinima!
http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2011/10/machinimuwa-iv-sophia-yates-in-dreams.html

And now we come to what could be the end of the reign of Nish Mip as Overall Grand Champion for the UWA 3D Art Challenges. In the Grand Finale last year, Nish Mip took both 1st and 2nd places. Blue Tsuki has already ensured that Nish 2 pieces in the Grand Finale this year will not repeat a 1-2 like last year.

And so, after seeing 858 art works and across more than a year since this challenge kicked off..... we are left with THE ONE. 1st Prize (L$100,000) on 70 points for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, with THREE 1st place votes, THREE 2nd place votes, TWO 3rd place votes, FIVE 4th place votes and being listed on the top 10's of 16 of the 35 judges, is:

DIGITAL GLOVE by Misprint Thursday

A stunning show by Misprint with TWO of the top 5 works out of 858.

Thank you artists of Second Life!

Thank you FreeWee Ling (do check out the 2,000++ images on the gallery she has set up of all the artworks sent in across the year https://picasaweb.google.com/freeweel)

Thank you LaPiscean Liberty. I hand the floor to you to end the Grand Finale by playing the Top 3 Machinima from MachinimUWA IV: Art of the Artists.